The first piece in Christine Chin's exhibit is powered by a fuel tank of liquefied worms.
The exhibit, "Alternative Alternative Energy," has five pieces that represent their own micro energy economy because they power themselves, Chin said.
The exhibit will be up through April 4 in the Jonson Gallery.
"(Chin) is interested in the cross-fertilization of art and science and how each can inform the other in fascinating ways," curator Chip Ware said.
The first piece, code-named EIW, plays a video showing how worms are bred to consume methane ice, found in deep ocean sediments. When the worms are harvested, they spontaneously liquefy and are refined to create a biomass fuel suitable for combustion engines.
"It's (pronounced) 'Ew,' so there's humor to it," Ware said. "It's meant to seem like science, but it's all tongue-in-cheek. That's art."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Another piece, called "Produce Powered Robotic Rodent," consists of more than 100 apples connected with wires that run through several rooms in the gallery. The apples charge a battery pack that powers a small robotic rabbit.
"There's irony that underscores all of this," Ware said.
It also brings to mind the idea of creating fuel from corn, which takes more energy than producing oil, Chin said.
"The future of energy is a very important issue, especially for students," she said.
The coming generation will have to deal with the problems the last one left behind, Chin said.
Ware said people have a tendency to feel desperate about the situation, given global warming and rising oil prices, "but Chin wants us to lighten up about it."
"Alternative energy is very possible and available, if people choose to pursue it," Chin said.
She's trying to encourage people to think about the energy that exists around them and how they can be part of the process.
"Do you know where the power plant is for Albuquerque?" Chin said. "Do you know what kind of fuel they use and make?"
Her pieces are meant to raise these kinds of questions.
"She's asking us, through this parody, to look at the real world and understand that everything is worth questioning," Ware said.
Chin graduated from Princeton and earned her master's at Purdue. But UNM was the place she wanted to be, she said.
"I decided I really wanted to be an artist," Chin said, "and UNM is excellent for teaching and art."
Several of the pieces in "Alternative Alternative Energy" show footage of projects being used in China, including mosquito-powered generators.
"Alternative Alternative Energy"
Tuesday through Friday - 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Jonson Gallery
1909 Las Lomas Road N.E.
